Thanks to quick-thinking couple, man arrested after pretending to be detective

"They were ringing the door late at night, it was almost 8:45 p.m. on a Sunday," said Priscilla Woods, who lives at the house.

Author:
Grace White

Published:
8:33 AM CST December 14, 2017

Updated:
8:33 AM CST December 14, 2017

TOMBALL, Texas - Court records show a man arrested for impersonating a police officer has a dangerous past. Sunday night, home surveillance video shows him trying to get a Tomball family to open their front door.

"They were ringing the door late at night, it was almost 8:45 p.m. on a Sunday," said Priscilla Woods, who lives at the house.

It was a surprise knock Woods is thankful she wasn't home to hear.

"When I saw who it was, I answered it but then when he said he was a cop, it kind of threw me off because he was so young," said Woods.

She has a doorbell camera that allowed her to see who was on the front porch of her Tomball home Sunday night while she was away, at the grocery store.

"First special agent, with Detective Carter Ashfield and then the second time he said that he was Detective Carter Ashfield," said Woods.

Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Deputies arrested Lance McClendon, 22, because he was claiming to be a cop.

"My name is Carter Ashfield, Detective Carter Ashfield," said McClendon in the video.

KHOU 11 learned it's not the first time McClendon had a run in with the law.

Court records show last year, he was sentenced to one year in the Harris County Jail. The charge was deadly conduct.

Investigators say he tried to buy a cell phone with fake cash and when the seller confronted him, they say he pulled out a gun and shot him.

"We don't know what he was really up to or why he was really there or why he was saying he was a cop to begin with," said Woods.

Right now, McClendon is back in jail on a $5,000 bond. Impersonating An Officer is a 3rd Degree Felony.